The answers equate to a market harbinger that's both alarming and telling…how much is your digital persona worth in today's social economy.

We'll explore the nuances and the impact on brands and personal brands live on stage at SXSW. Join me and a few special guests on Saturday 3/12 at 5 p.m. in Ballroom D in the Austin Convention Center.

The #EGOsystem

If Google ranks the quality of web pages using PageRank, new services such as Klout, PeerIndex, and Traackr are developing a human algorithm that could best be described as PeopleRank. Whether you like or not, we live in a social hierarchy where your every move is indexed and calculated into a score that represents your stature in a digital society. Complain all you want, but the truth is that your place within a social class system is already separated into a divide of Have and Have Not. For those who are among the digital elite, they are sought after by brands and other personalities to reward them for their social mastery. They become the new @CharlieSheen. They're winners! And, as we see with new media talent agencies such as Ad.ly (the company that helped Charlie move to Twitter), celebs such as Kim Kardashian, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Paris Hilton, as well as the new era of web celebs and the Internet Famous are cashing in on their new media fame. Twitter is the new vehicle for celebrity endorsements and as a result, Tweets are worth money and brands are lining up to sponsor them. Here's the crazy part, they're working and followers seem to love them.

But the opportunities you earn in the social web are just as important as the opportunities you will never see.

Our avatars carry a number, a value. To the outside world, that is our credit score. It is our net worth and it is a representation of our level of influence or lack thereof. But what the hell is influence anyway and why did I not have an opportunity to opt out of any of this?

Let me ask you something, if you had the option, would you opt out? Would you remove yourself from these systems scoring your social persona?

At this very moment, influence is harboring feelings of either recognition or resentment. It is what it is. So the question is, what are you going to do about it? Will it inspire you to push back or does it evoke aspiration and focus to change how you engage in social networks to improve your score.

See you on Saturday at SXSW to explore this important subject.

p.s. It's now a tradition. Three years in a row, three book debuts at SXSW. During the session, we'll also take a moment to talk about the release of my latest book Engage!Revised and Updated.

Brian Solis is the author ofEngageand is one of most provocative thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis's research and ideas have influenced the effects of emerging media on the convergence of marketing, communications, and publishing. Follow him on Twitter @BrianSolis, YouTube, or at BrianSolis.com.